Category: political struggle

worker | April 6, 2017 | 9:56 pm | A. Shaw, Analysis, Imperialism, political struggle, Syria | Comments closed

By A.Shaw

The reactionary, liberal, and centrist sectors of the capitalist press, the three most important sectors of the cappi or capitalist press, have turned themselves into one sector in order to better promote or synchronize imperialist anti-Syrian lies proclaimed by their reactionary and aggressive bourgeois regime in Washington, DC.

Donald Trump and his bestial regime are committing an act of horrendous aggression against the people of Syria.

The USA regime and its Jihadist allies organized the massacre of children which imperialists now use as a pretext for their savage aggression.

The peace-loving, ethical, and truly democratic forces must fight to stop imperialist aggression against Syria.

These humanist forces must never forget that the slime that runs the foul regime in Washington DC represses not only independent foreigners but also independent USAs, especially those in the working and middle classes.

STOP US AGGRESSION

Immoral Outrage Against The Syrians

worker | April 6, 2017 | 4:31 pm | A. Shaw, Analysis, class struggle, Imperialism, political struggle, Russia, Syria | 1 Comment

By A. Shaw

Aircraft of US imperialists recently attacked the Iraq city of Mosul, slaughtering over 200 people.

So far, the imperialists have not identified the type of bombs and missiles they drop on Mosul.

There is no doubt that US imperialists are responsible for the mass murder in Mosul.

The shameless US imperialists themselves admit they are guilty.

Why is it that there is so little moral outrage against the US atrocity in Mosul.

There is something like a limited coalescence of immoral outrage of the reactionary, centrist, and liberal sectors of the working and middle classes in the USA over the recent chemical attack in Syria in which 100 people were killed, many of the victims were children.

There’s no evidence that either the Russian or Syrian governments are guilty of the chemical attack.

The cappie [capitalist] press in the USA publishes the lies of self-professed terrorists, who enjoy cutting peoples heads off, as if these lies are irreproachable and incontrovertible.

The cappie media and the reactionary bourgeois regime in Washington have unjustly accused the Russians and Syrians.

The USAs — or the US people — should not become as two-face as the cappie media and bourgeois regime over the USAs.

Periodically, some of the insane, terrorist groups fighting the Syrian Government stage chemical attacks killing children in order to drag US imperialists deeper into the war against the Syrian people.

Cuban doctors head to Peru in the wake of severe flooding

worker | April 4, 2017 | 9:06 pm | Cuba, Health Care, political struggle | Comments closed

http://en.granma.cu/cuba/2017-03-31/cuban-doctors-head-to-peru-in-the-wake-of-severe-flooding

Cuban doctors head to Peru in the wake of severe flooding

Cuban doctors departed for Peru early this Friday, March 31, to provide services in areas of the country affected by the recent heavy rains. On leaving, they dedicated their solidarity efforts to the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro

Author: Lissy Rodriguez Guerrero | informacion@granma.cu

march 31, 2017 10:03:11

Cuban health personnel departed for Peru early this Friday, March 31, tasked with providing services in areas of the country affected by the recent heavy rains.

Gathered at the Central Medical Cooperation Unit for a farewell ceremony yesterday evening, they dedicated their solidarity efforts to the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro.

They were joined by Public Health Minister Roberto Morales Ojeda, who presented this 23rd Brigade of the Henry Reeve International Contingent of Doctors Specializing in Disasters and Serious Epidemics, with the customary Cuban flag.

The 23-strong brigade is made up 12 physicians and 11 health professionals, with more than ten years experience and having fulfilled other international missions.

Morales Ojeda, who is also a member of the Party Political Bureau, noted that the Henry Reeve Contingent was formed as part of the solidarity initiatives led by Fidel, and that today 50,000 Cuban collaborators are offering their services across 62 countries.

The Minister also told reporters that the brigade is armed with 7.2 tons of medicines and expendable supplies, which will allow these professionals to provide health care services to some 20,000 people.

Dr. Rolando Piloto, leading the medical mission, noted that Cuba has provided solidarity of this kind on two previous occasions to the people of Peru, flowing earthquakes in May, 1970, and August, 2007.

Everyone Seems Astounded That the Trump Administration Has Derailed

worker | March 25, 2017 | 11:46 pm | Analysis, class struggle, Donald Trump, Frederick Engels, J. Stalin, Karl Marx, political struggle, V.I. Lenin | Comments closed

What could go wrong if you put the fox inside the chicken house?

Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” Matthew 19:24

By James Thompson

The MSM seems to be beside itself and is twittering and blasting out its astonishment that something has gone wrong in the White House since Donald Trump has assumed the throne. People are talking treason and/or impeachment of this president who was elected by a minority of the voters in the US democracy.

How could this be? What could the voters be thinking of?

People in the US have been dumbed down for many years now. They have been trained by a massive brainwashing campaign carried out by the government on behalf of the bourgeoisie which it serves.

Most people in the US believe that Karl Marx, V. I. Lenin, Frederick Engels, Joseph Stalin and communists in general are villains. However, Marxists have some important lessons to teach. Communists have a long history of fighting for the interests of working people.

For those that listen, Marx taught us that capitalism can only be sustained by theft of the value produced by the workers’ labor. Marx taught us that capitalism is theft and capitalists are thieves.

Nevertheless, the US people persist in their uncritical worship of wealthy people. It is generally believed that wealthy people are superior to working people. They believe that the wealthy have mysteriously earned their income. Few people seem to understand that wealthy people gain their wealth the old-fashioned way, they steal it.

Now, if people will just open their eyes, they will see Donald Trump on the throne, and he has no clothes on. In other words, his ignorance has been projected out for all the world to see. His history of exploiting people to increase his own wealth is visible to all. His disregard for other humans is obvious. He is the same man that bragged that if he shot someone on Fifth Avenue, people would still support him. He is the same man that talked of grabbing women in inappropriate ways just because he could.

People are astounded that Trump may have been mixed up with Russian mobsters and bankers. They are astounded that the healthcare act he proposed was obvious thievery from working people to further enrich the wealthiest people in the country. Perhaps working people will finally get it that wealthy people will always steal working people blind if given the opportunity. Maybe working people will decide that it is time to fight for their own interests instead of licking the boots of the capitalists.

Trump is a dirty politician

worker | March 25, 2017 | 5:00 pm | A. Shaw, Analysis, Donald Trump, political struggle, Russia | Comments closed

By A. Shaw

“The Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) prohibits any foreign national from contributing, donating or spending funds in connection with any federal, state, or local election in the United States, either directly or indirectly. It is also unlawful to help foreign nationals violate that ban or to solicit, receive or accept contributions or donations from them. Persons who knowingly and willfully engage in these activities may be subject to fines and/or imprisonment, ” the Federal Election Commission says on its website.

Federal Election Commission (FEC) statement of the law, cited above, applies to “ANY FOREIGN NATIONAL.”

In the current investigation of Donald Trump and his campaign for treason or high crime, two Russian banks — SBV Bank and ALFA Bank — appear to be foreign nationals relevant to the investigation.

The FEC statement of the law also deals with ” funds in connection with any federal, state, or local election in the United States, either directly or indirectly.”

The FBI is the lead agency investigating the treason or high crime case against Trump and his campaign.

Since Oct. 2016, the FBI has conducted electronic surveillance of the relationship between a Russian computer firm, located in Trump Tower, and the two Russian banks mentioned above. The FBI has further watched the relationship between this Russian computer firm in Trump Tower and high-ranking individuals in the Trump campaign, including among others, Donald Trump, Paul Manafort, Carter Page, Ivanka Trump, and Roger Stone. The FBI watched the relationship between these five above-named individuals involved in the campaign and financial vehicles connected to the Trump campaign, such as PACs and SUPER-PACs.

Money flowed from the Russian banks to the Trump campaign.

The money flowed “directly and indirectly.”

A presidential campaign is a “federal election.”

The phrase “in connection with” includes a wide range of relationships between the things connected.

“Persons who knowingly and willfully engage in these activities may be subject to fines and/or imprisonment” the FEC statement says.

Article II, Section Four of the US Constitution says “The president … shall be removed from office on impeachment for and conviction of treason … or other high crimes and misdemeanours.”

Fixing an US election in collusion with a foreign country is treason or, at least, a high crime.

There is now probable cause to impeach Trump, the so-called president.

RESPONSE TO: Bernie Sanders Rightfully Refers to Democratic Party as a Sinking Ship

worker | March 19, 2017 | 11:47 am | A. Shaw, Analysis, Bernie Sanders, political struggle | Comments closed

John Bachtell divides the working class by splitting the CPUSA: Whatever happened to “Unity, the only way!”?

worker | March 16, 2017 | 9:04 pm | About the CPUSA, Party Voices, political struggle | Comments closed

John Case’s view of the CPUSA under John Bachtell’s leadership via the Socialist Economics listserv:

With the best of intentions and sentiments, CP leader Bachtell delivers a typically impotent CP rebuke to fascism. The fascist threat will be rebuked when its driving cause, 40 years of Austerity, is directly addressed and reversed. Not before. Bachtell does not even mention that. Doing that would mean raising, not burying, effacing, minimizing or damning with faint praise, class politics in the midst of reveling in the abundance of “resistance” movements. Hat tips from “Communists” to these movements are no doubt elevating to the tipper. But who in the movements cares? the CP represents no class, none, Airy speculations about all-peoples fronts and such from those with no base, and no prospects of one, are just that: hot air.

I suspect the faction online advocating that the whole Trump affair, and now the fate of democracy, is mainly about race and not class is loud in party ranks. I guess THEY won’t be contending, like Sanders, “the new center” — Joe Manchin— in the coalfields of West Virginia. Or engaging the gas fields either, with those evil pipeline workers and their building trades unions Â begging Trump — not the “multi-class allies” — for jobs at a living wage.

Bachtell offers this, for those who might be tempted to criticize, like Sanders, the new “center”: Senator Joe Manchin, of West Virginia: “These approaches [that] advocate war against the political center at a moment when center-left unity is absolutely necessary…”

Unity on what? Does the “unity” include — first — reversing austerity, which, by the way, does NOT require overthrowing capitalism, but does require a determined class struggle against the rights and prerogatives of billionaires? If not, it won’t amount to dogshit in repairing working class disunity. And if that is not repaired, all the “multi-class” coalitions in the world won’t remove the fascists, and the fetid petri dish of austerity in which they thrive and are reborn. If you do not use a class approach — who are YOUR people, YOUR way of life — if ordinary people are not drawn into motion in the millions, you wont ever know what the basis of popular unity really is. For example — you might find that fixing austerity HAS TO COME BEFORE bathroom rights in North Carolina, if you were listening to millions, not the “left”.

Of course this discourse is all a waste of time with the CP and some similar orgs — orgs with no base have no real way of politically verifying their positions, and thus can remain firmly planted in mid-air for lifetimes. It was effectively liquidated in the 50’s by a combination of repression and sectarianism. It revived a half Zombie existence in the sixties at the pleasure of the Â CPSU and a quid pro quo with the Kennedy Administration. It’s leaders got out of jail. It succeeded in getting Angela Davis out of jail — its singular post-war actual accomplishment, beyond a repository of militant memories. Soviet cash helped pay for the paper and presidential campaigns of Gus Hall. Which makes the CP going after Trump for foreign interference a bit, well, compromised to say the least.

But I offer it as an example of what not to do as the resistance goes forward.

Stay away from sectarian outfits with “profound world-scale views” but no legs, and giant suitcases of dead weights they will ask you to carry for them on the way to “liberation”.

jcase

Joes Sims response to John Case’s view of John Bachtell via the Socialist Economics listserv:

I was surprised and dismayed by John Case’s recent rebuke of John Bachtell’s article and more broadly the Communist Party.Â Allow me a brief personal reply.
First it is absolutely untrue that the Communist Party downplays austerity now or in the past. I, for example, essayed an extended critique of this very subject, its influence on GOP and Democratic neoliberal politics and on the Clinton’s in particular. Combating the fascist danger as Case correctly emphasizes was its point of departure. So too with various articles in peoplesworld.org by many writers including Bachtell.Â His most recent, taken to task by John Case, is no different, albeit its consideration of how to conduct this fight in the current dispensation, an issue that’s ignored at our collective peril.

What’s the basis of this fight? Clearly it will not be giving up on the fight for 15, Obamacare, acceptance of national stop-and-frisk, approval of right to work, etc. In a phrase, we cannot stop saying no to neoliberal austerity. These demands have had much room for initiative and setting the agenda – even for the most advanced elements of the political center. This fact is suggestive of the danger of getting stuck in the middle of constricted phrases and formulas. My own view is that we’ve entered an unprecedented period where the defeat of fascism may well require radical radical reforms: or as John Case puts it, a defeat of austerity, a moment when for a time, Â the anti-right and anti-monopoly stages of struggle could combine.

It’s all the more curious then why John Case critiques challenging the basis for Trump vote. Doing so does not necessarily undermine the anti-austerity motives behind sections of the vote. An understanding of this vote is not written only in black and white, but also in many shades of grey. A denial of one leads necessarily to a misunderstanding of the other. Not seeing the greys may obscure all. Hence my complete disdain for the “identity politics” critique as if people of color, women, lgbtq people do not have the same economic claims and anxiety as working-class whites. In fact we have more. John Case knows that and in fact has written eloquently on it himself, which makes me wonder as to why the tenor, tone and content of his attack, a fusillade that goes beyond the present moment but dates a half a century back into the dark corners of the Cold War.

Speaking now as the son of a steelworker at Youngstown Sheet and Tube and coming of age in the direct shadow of Joe McCarthy and Roy Cohn I have to directly challenge Case’s allegations about the Communist Party, its working class influence and its source. Coming from a party family in a small industrial town in the 60s I witnessed the daily work of my mom and dad from a unique vantage point. I saw first hand their daily work on school reform, model cities, welfare rights, police violence, union rights, even questions of war and peace. I heard the phone ring and watched their grassroots defense of our class, work which won them respect and even election to community organization and union positions. And all of this was after having been twice hauled before HUAC. Dad was a grievance man for Local 2163; mom an activist and trustee in AFSCME, both members of the NAACP, CBTU, SANE FREEZE and many other organizations. When dad died the then USWA sent Oliver Montgomery from the Pittsburgh International to speak at his funeral. Montgomery reflected on dad’s work on the consent decree and importantly on the issue of black white unity urging him at a difficult time not to give up on his white union brothers. Tributes were also brought from other community and religious leaders, including Ron Daniels. The same can be said for my mom, who twice ran for city and countywide office and was an elected leader in her union. Even today when dining out her lunch and dinner are bought by community figures who on occasion happen upon us – an offering of admiration and respect.

Here’s what I came here to say: this respect was not bought with Moscow gold. Not in Youngstown, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago or any other town were communists worked and struggled. And these tales are not unique but are the stories of Frank and Bea Lumpkin, George and Denise Edwards, Wally Kauffman, George Meyers, Lorenzo and Anita Torres and hundreds if not thousands of communist trade unionists who labored in the factories and mines of our country.

So no John I can never agree with your charge that the U.S. working class doesn’t give a damn about the Communist Party.

No, respect cannot be bought. This I know. But I’ve learned something else. Lies come cheap, especially big ones. And that’s what troubled me more than anything else when reading your critique. We live in an age of the Big Lie, in a time when facts give way to unbelievably dangerous flights of fantasy. We cannot in any way accommodate them. The facts I offer instead are small ones, grains of truth really, anecdotal sure, but taken together they weave an undeniable pattern of struggle, one that challenges your narrative John, then and now. These same truths obtain today as the CP experiences an uptick in membership brought about in response to the Trump election. Just last weekend we phoned some 5000 of them several hundred of whom joined since November 8th.

Winter is here and we must huddle together to avoid the cold. And for that reason I will end by reminding of you of my father’s lesson upon dying learned through the tears of Oliver Montgomery’s eulogy: no matter how difficult the time or how low the blow I will not give up on you my erstwhile comrade but remaining class brother. Let’s not give up on each other.

Joe Sims